Transmission of accounting packets to RADIUS servers
For mobile access service VPN connections that communicate over the wireless optimized link protocol (WLP) or over IP, the SafeLinx Server can send accounting packets to a RADIUS server. The SafeLinx Server transmits accounting on/off and accounting start/stop packets to the RADIUS server.
If the primary RADIUS server does not acknowledge receipt of a packet within 3 seconds, the SafeLinx Server attempts to send the packet twice more. After the second attempt the SafeLinx Server waits 9 seconds for a response from the RADIUS server before it makes a third and final attempt. If all attempts fail, the error is logged by using a network management trap and the SafeLinx Server attempts to send the packet to the secondary RADIUS server. Another network management trap is sent if both RADIUS servers fail to respond.
Each valid RADIUS accounting request packet causes the RADIUS server to send a corresponding response packet. When the SafeLinx Server shuts down, an accounting-off packet is sent. Before it shuts down, the SafeLinx Server does not wait for a response packet from the RADIUS server.
If you disable the RADIUS accounting configuration during normal operation, an accounting-off packet is sent to the RADIUS server. Then, the SafeLinx Server continues to process response packets and to resend any packets that were not acknowledged. No new request packets are generated while the RADIUS accounting configuration is disabled.